Centerstage Theater, located in Federal Way, started their 2023-2024 season this past weekend with a stage-play adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma.”
Following the titular character, Emma, as well as a colorful cast of characters and their various romantic entanglements and interpersonal drama in the fictional village Highbury, it’s a fun show to check out this month, with shows on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through Oct. 29.
The cast is made up of 12 passionate, talented individuals who come from a variety of backgrounds. Miles McClure, who plays Robert Martin and Frank Churchill, says he’s been acting since high school, but this is his first show at Centerstage. McClure said, “I’ve wanted to continue acting ever since graduating high school but felt I should focus more on getting a substantial job first and save money so I wasn’t stuck as a starving actor. Which also meant I did not go to college.”
He recently finalized plans to purchase the business he’s been working at, which gave him the free time to start acting again. “It has been super fun, I feel fortunate to be a part of it and to have as much to do as I do as well. I’ve been lucky enough to have two of the named roles in the show which has been really fun,” said McClure.
“The best part are the people you meet during the show and the connections I’ve made in and out of rehearsal. Some of the bits and things actors come up with amongst themselves to make the show funnier or fill in gaps are some of my favorite parts of acting,” McClure continued. He looks forward to finishing this show and future seasons of Centerstage productions.
Rylie Latham plays the character Harriet Smith, a friend of Emmas who goes through various attempts at relationships until she ultimately ends up with the character Robert Martin by the end.
Latham has been acting for nine years now, and got their degree in theater to support the fact they’d been working as a choreographer around their city already. She said, “I didn’t consider myself an actor, though, until my third year of college. That’s when I started to get more confident and comfortable with acting.”
She’s worked with Centerstage once before and had a great experience, and was excited when she heard they were doing “Emma” and once she read for Harriet, something just fell into place.
“Being Harriet on stage is allowing me to feel free to be silly, young, dumb, sweet, dramatic, and to fall in love with everyone. I know it’s cheesy, but I really learn a lot from the characters I portray and Harriet is teaching me a lot about how to look at the people I put on pedestals and how to love abundantly,” Latham said. “This is actually my first, true, comedic role, and I’m having to work on a whole set of new muscles, but I’m having the best time with it.”
“Working on this show has been an absolute blast,” Latham said. “This has been one of my favorite casts ever. They are an absolute joy to create with! I feel really proud of what we’re bringing to the stage collectively.”
Trista Duval is the artistic director of the production, and has been the artistic director at Centerstage for seven years now – prior to that, she’d been an actor in several shows at the theater.
“This show is one of the only period pieces we’ve done in my tenure. The other was a Sherlock Holmes, set in the 1870s. We don’t usually have shows taking place before 1910, so there are a lot of challenges for costumes and props!” Duval said. “It’s a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s work, but we’ve added some fun twists and I think people will be surprised at how funny it can be.”
Looking into the future, Duval said, “I’m excited about this entire season.” After “Emma” will be Centerstage’s annual “Holiday Panto” – this year, revisiting the story of “Sleeping Beauty.” “It was the first Panto I was in, as ensemble, 8 years ago. We’ve added some things and updated the music and it should be a lot of fun,” Duval said.
From Jan. 26 to Feb. 17 will be the Agatha Christie mystery “Spider’s Web,” followed by the musical “First Date,” from Mar. 29 to Apr. 21, which will be “the theater’s first non-Holiday musical since Dirty Rotten Scoundrels two years ago.”
From May 24 to June 16 will be the play “10 Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith.” “We wrap the season with an incredible story by Yussef el-Guindi, who is an internationally renowned playwright. His work is frequently performed all over the country, and he lives right here in Seattle! I didn’t even know that until after I found and read the script!” said Duval.
“So we’ve got a fabulous variety onstage this season. But every show has humor, warmth, and moments the audience will be talking about for days after seeing it,” concludes Duval.
To learn more about Centerstage’s current and upcoming productions, visit centerstagetheatre.com.
